Santana's Elf
by kp83
Summary: Santana vowed against the Elf on the Shelf. She thought it was a ridiculous concept that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with; but when she is given one against her will, and reluctantly roped into the Christmas tradition, she soon finds that her elf is more than she expected. Christmas Brittana AU. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

**Santana's Elf**

 **A/N** : Hey everyone! I've been promising a Christmas fic, and since today is my birthday, I can't think of a better gift to give you guys for all your support than a new Brittana fic. Please enjoy!

 **Chapter 1**

" _Oh, hell no! Ain't nobody got time for that nonsense!"_

Santana was sure that she had said that to her mother when she broached the subject of the damn Elf on the Shelf the day before, but her mother was her mother and did what she wanted. She sighed and had to bite back a series of curse words that threatened to spill from her lips as her mother held out a white box with red and orange lettering.

"Mama, I told you _no_ yesterday."

Maribel wasn't discouraged by her rejection and pushed the box into Santana's hands. "I know what you said Mija, but I'm the mother and abuela here, so I get the majority rule."

"But they aren't even my kids!" Santana huffed refusing to even look down at the box. She wanted to throw it out the window. "Give it to Miguel; they're his kids."

"They have one and they just love it. It's their first year to truly understand what the elf is all about and the kids think that you have an elf that stays at your house too, so I got one for you. I went to a lot of trouble to get this. I was at the mall and every store I went to was sold out, but someone told me to check with Santa's village. I stood in line for almost thirty minutes just to see Santa and ask him for one. Apparently, it's a whole big show for the kids, because the elf comes from Santa, so I couldn't just buy one from his helpers. They wouldn't make an exception. I actually had to sit on a stool beside Santa and tell him who it was for and why you wanted an elf; so I sat there and told Santa all about you while everyone listened. For a moment, I thought I went through all that trouble for nothing and that he didn't have any left because he looked through his bag for a while, but then he finally gave me one and he whispered to one of the helpers nearby to not charge me for it either. Before I left, he made me promise to tell you to take good care of her. It was all quite silly and I was a little embarrassed, but I promised him, and I never break my promises, so you better take care of this elf."

Santana shook her head because that was the most ridiculous story she had ever heard. She almost pitied her mother for having to go through that, but then she remembered the box in her hands that she had explicitly said that she didn't want, and she thought she deserved everything she got.

"But I don't want it!" Santana huffed again. Despite the fact that she wasn't a fan of the Elf on the Shelf idea, she had no reason to have one. She was twenty-eight years old, unmarried, and had no children. "I don't even like the idea of it. It's creepy as hell that we're teaching kids that it's okay for someone to watch every move that they make, and don't even get me started on the fact that you have to create all these ridiculous and messy situations every night. I have better things to do with my time."

"Santana." Maribel rolled her eyes. "Don't get dramatic; it's a simple toy, not a voyeur, and it's a cute idea. The twins love it, and they love you. You know you're their favorite aunt and I know how much you love them too. I don't think it's too much to ask you to indulge them for two weeks. They only have a few years before they're too big for this sort of thing."

Santana sighed because she knew that it was only a matter of time before her mother pulled that card; and it worked. Every. Single. Time. She loved her niece and nephew as if they were her own. She would do anything for those kids. They lived halfway across the country and she was only able to see them a few times a year, so when she was with them, she spoiled them rotten.

"Ugh, fine! For them." Santana grumbled and set the box on the coffee table. Maribel smirked triumphantly because she knew before she even went to get the elf that she would do it. "I'll set it up tonight, that way it's ready for tomorrow, and I promise to take good care of it."

"Perfect!" Maribel chirped. "Well now that that's settled, I'm off."

"You're leaving already?" Santana asked surprised. He mother never stayed for just five minutes. It was always, _always_ a minimum of an hour visit when she stopped by to see her.

"Your father and I are meeting up with some friends for dinner, so I have to go get ready. We'll be by tomorrow around noon. I'll bring lunch with us."

"Okay." Santana said and walked her mother to the door.

Maribel kissed Santana on her cheek and then she rubbed the small smudge of lip-gloss off her cheek. "You're a great auntie Santana. When you find that special lady and start a family, I know you'll make a great mother."

Santana couldn't help but to smile and nod. Kids were not in the forefront of her mind, but she did want them eventually, and she wanted to be a good parent, so hearing her mother tell her she thought she would be was comforting.

"Love you, Mija, and thanks."

"Love you too, Mama." Santana said with a smile and kissed her mother on her cheek as well.

"I'll call you tomorrow."

"Alright. Drive safe." Santana said and watched her mother get into her car before she closed the door and went back into her office to finish the work she had been doing before her mother stopped by.

-()-()-()-()-

A few hours later, Santana finally came out of her office. She was hungry, so she went into the kitchen and made herself a sandwich and a glass of wine, before taking it into the living room so she could eat it in front of the T.V. That's when she saw the white box again. She rolled her eyes as she sat her plate and glass on the coffee table and pushed the box off to the side.

After an hour of watching a trashy reality show, she flipped through the channels until she came across a Christmas movie that she loved from her childhood. She sat back and watched the movie, smiling and laughing until the credits started to roll and she turned her attention from the T.V. to the box sitting on the table.

She sighed and reluctantly sat up, reaching for the box and bringing it into her lap. She looked over the front of the box and in the top right corner, she saw a small green triangle that said, "I'm a girl," with a picture of a blue-eyed, brunette elf, but she already knew that it was a girl because her mother had told her that.

"Alright, let's see what this nonsense is all about." She said and opened the box, seeing a book on the left and an elf sitting on a shelf on the right.

As Santana looked at the elf, she raised an eyebrow because there was something different about it. It looked different from the one on the front of the box and the ones that she had seen before. Several things were different in fact. Its facial features didn't look as cartoon-y; it had a few freckles peppering her peachy cheeks, long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a cute green and red dress, instead of short brunette hair, a red onesie jumpsuit, and no freckles. She didn't claim to know much about the Elf on the Shelf, but she had friends with kids, so she knew what they looked like, and she knew enough to know that they only came in four styles…boy and girl with either dark skin or light skin, and they all had brunette hair.

Santana took the plastic covering away and picked up the elf to get a closer look at it. _"No wonder he gave it to her for free."_ She thought assuming the mall Santa had given her mother a defective elf…but the more she looked at the elf, the more she found herself thinking that it was less a defect, and more an improvement. "Maybe it's a new model." She said with a shrug.

She gently laid the elf on the couch beside her and picked up the book to read the story. She figured before her niece and nephew arrived, she had better know something about it.

Once she finished reading the book, she set it back in the box and picked up the elf. The book said that she had to give her a name so she could receive her 'Christmas magic'. "So what's your name?" Santana said and she almost rolled her eyes at herself for actually talking to the elf.

She ran through a long list of names, but none of them seemed right. She glanced up at the T.V. and the first name she saw in the rolling credits was 'Brittany'. She liked the name and after looking at the elf for a few moments, she thought it was a good fit. She smiled at having come up with a name, but then she realized the effort that she put into naming a stuffed elf and she huffed at her silliness. She stood up and went over to the Christmas tree to take off a candy cane, and then she went over to the fireplace, setting the elf on the mantle and sliding the candy cane under her arms.

"There you go Brittany. The kids will love you." Santana said and patted her on the head with her finger.

She went over to the coffee table and picked up the white box, taking it into the hall closet to put it away so the kids wouldn't see it. She stopped by the bathroom to relieve her bladder and then she went back into the living room where she saw a tall woman with her back to her, admiring the Christmas tree. It nearly gave her a heart attack as she jumped and scrambled to pick up anything that could be used as a weapon.

"Who the hell are you and why are you in my house?" Santana yelled holding a large umbrella out in front her. She was so scared and surprised by the intruder that she was practically shaking.

The woman turned around and she smiled brightly. "Silly, you should know my name. You gave it to me." She chirped and moved closer to Santana, but when Santana only raised her eyebrows, she added, "I'm Brittany!"

Santana took a better look at the women and she noticed that she had sparkly blue eyes, beautiful long blond hair, pale freckles across her cheeks, and a green and red dress. Santana started to feel lightheaded. She looked to the mantel and there was no stuffed toy there anymore, and it didn't appear to be in the immediate vicinity either.

"W-what?" She stuttered and tightened her grip on the umbrella. "This can't be happening."

"Of course it is Santana." Brittany giggled.

Santana shook her head, still in disbelief. She just stared at Brittany smiling at her and the more she looked at her, the more she started to believe that she was not a threat to her, so she calmed down a little bit.

"I'm hallucinating." She muttered and lowered the umbrella. She pinched the bridge of her nose. _"How much did I have to drink?"_ She thought. She was sure she only had one glass of white wine, but now she thought that she had drank way more than that and she was drunk.

"You're kinda funny." Brittany said bouncing on her toes. "This is my first time away from the North Pole and I can't believe that Santa sent me to stay with someone as awesome as you for Christmas. I like you so much already…and you're so beautiful."

Santana looked up at Brittany and she didn't know what part of that statement to tackle first. "Um…thanks?"

"Do you have any food? I'm starving."

"Uhh, yeah." Santana said slowly. "I have food."

Brittany giggled. "Great, let's go eat." She said and took Santana by the hand.

Santana nearly jumped when she felt Brittany's soft hand wrap around hers. _"She feels real."_ She thought as she stared at Brittany again before she broke out of her stupor and led Brittany into the kitchen.

"Umm…what do you want?" Santana asked, because she didn't know what elves ate.

"Do you have any cookies and milk?" Brittany asked.

Santana raised her eyebrows and she let out a little laugh, because while she should have expected that from Santa's elf, it surprised her. "I have chocolate chip cookies."

"Yay! I love chocolate chip. They aren't as good as rainbow cookies, but they're still good."

"Okay." Santana said and motioned for Brittany to sit at the small table.

Brittany sat down and rested her elbow on the table as she set her chin in the palm of her hand. She eagerly watched Santana move around the kitchen muttering to herself. When Santana set a plate of cookies in front of her and a tall glass of milk, she giggled and stood up, wrapping Santana in her arms for a tight hug.

"Thank you!" Brittany cheered.

Santana had been taken by surprise by the embrace, but after a few moments, she tentatively wrapped her arms around Brittany and hugged her back. "You're welcome." She said softly.

Brittany flashed Santana a bright smile when she pulled back from the hug and sat down to eat her cookies. Santana sat in the chair beside her and she just watched her eat as she tried to work out everything in head.

"You make really good cookies." Brittany said after she finished her first cookie.

"I didn't make them; they're Keebler." Santana said with a smirk. She was sure the reference would go over Brittany's head, but then Brittany's eyes widened.

"You can get elf cookies here too?" Brittany asked so earnestly that it made Santana's face fall in surprise.

"Wait…the Keebler Elves are real?" Santana asked.

Brittany nodded. "They're in a different clan than us in the North Pole, but we're kinda like cousins." She said and then took a bite from her cookie.

Santana just closed her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I need to sober up." She said and rubbed her face with her hands.

"What does 'sober up' mean?" Brittany asked, cocking her head to the side.

Santana sighed and slid her hands down and away from her face. "Basically it means I need to stop seeing and hearing things that aren't real."

"What are you seeing that's not real?" Brittany asked, and again, she was so earnest in her question that Santana was dumbfounded by it.

"You!" Santana yelped. "You. Aren't. Real. I must have had some bad wine, or I've completely lost my mind and drank way more than I thought I had."

"But I am real." Brittany said setting down her cookie, taking Santana's hand into her own, and pressing it against her heart. "See? I'm real."

Santana just sat there for almost a minute feeling Brittany's heartbeat. She was so confused. Brittany was right there in front of her. She could see her, talk to her, and touch her. She seemed pretty real to her, but she was claiming to be a real Christmas elf that used to be a toy that Santa sent to stay with her. That deviation from reality was what Santana was having trouble with.

"Fine." Santana said, finally pulling her hand away from Brittany and looking at her pointedly. "If you're real, then you won't mind answering some questions."

"Nope." Brittany said. "Ask me anything."

"Okay…" Santana said trying to figure out which of the pressing questions she had floating round her head was one she wanted answered first. "So let's assume you're an elf, a _real_ Christmas elf, then how did you get here?"

"In the box that Santa gave you." Brittany said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"I know that!" Santana snapped and it startled Brittany, causing her to whimper and jump from the unexpected outburst. Santana saw the way that she had frightened Brittany and the sad look on her face tugged at her heart, making her feel bad. "I'm sorry." She said and her tone was much quieter and gentler this time. "What I meant was that I know I got a toy elf in a box, but now I'm looking at you and you look like a real person, not a toy."

Brittany giggled. "That's just the part of the Christmas magic. I can transform into a toy or into my regular self whenever I want."

"But I touched you, how come you didn't lose your magic?" Santana asked.

She read the book; it said if the elf was touched after she got her magic, she would lose it and not be able to return to the North Pole to report her findings to Santa. It never mentioned her being able to turn into a person, but she assumed that if the magic was gone, the transformations would stop as well and she would revert to a toy again.

"I won't lose my magic just because I was touched. I always have it. That's just a little white lie that Santa came up with to tell kids so they don't try to play with us. Just think of the injuries that could cause. It could be disastrous." Brittany said and she had a serious look on her face as she imagined what could come from a situation like that.

"But no one that I've ever heard of has had their toy elves come to life."

"That's part of the magic again. I'm not really a toy, I'm a person, but the scout elves are supposed to look like toys while we're away from the North Pole, especially if we're around kids, because Santa says that it helps their imaginations develop."

"Then why didn't you stay a toy? Why did you show yourself to me?

"Because I wanted to meet you."

"Why? What makes me so special that you would break the rules?"

Brittany reached her hand across to take Santana's. "I could get into a little trouble for showing myself to you, but I did it because you have a big generous heart that you try to hide from the world, and even though you pretend to be skeptical, you truly want to believe in people. You want to see their magic and you want them to see yours. Some people may think you're a bad person at first glance, but you're not. You're one of the best, and if people only took the time to see your magic, they'd know it right away. I did. As soon as your mom gave me to you, I was learning your magic. You didn't want an elf, but I heard you give in because it was for your niece and nephew. I watched you read the book and spend time giving me a proper name, even if you thought I was just a toy and it was ridiculous. You love your niece and nephew and you want them to have everything their little hearts' desire. You put them first when you didn't have to. I thought that someone like you must be a true sweetheart and I really wanted to meet you. I was hoping that we could be friends."

Santana swallowed hard and felt her cheeks heat up. She really was starting to believe that she wasn't drunk and that _maybe_ Brittany was real. She said a lot of things about her that were true, and touched on some of her insecurities; and while she was more than a little creeped out that someone had been observing her without her knowing it, she was also flattered that Brittany saw something special in her that she would risk breaking the rules and getting into trouble just so she could meet her.

"I guess we could be friends." Santana said softly. As freaked out as she had been over Brittany's presence at first, it didn't take long for her to start to like her. "I feel bad that you're going to get into trouble over me though."

"Aww, it won't be too bad." Brittany said waving her hand. "I'll probably just have to muck the reindeer stables for a while. It'll be totally worth it to spend time with you for the next two weeks."

"Why only two weeks?"

"Once Christmas is over I have to go back home to the North Pole to help get ready for next Christmas."

Santana scrunched her eyebrows together. "I'm confused. I've seen my friend's elf outside of Christmas time. She showed it to me in July. If you go back to the North Pole, how come her elf was still in the box?"

"Christmas magic." Brittany said simply. "As soon as our family starts to look for us, we're notified, and it doesn't matter what we're doing we have to go back to keep up the illusion that we're just a toy."

"And you can do that that quickly?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"Christmas magic." Brittany said again as if that was the answer to everything. "How else do you think that Santa can get around the world in just one night?"

Santana just stared at Brittany. Everything she had just heard seemed out of the realm of reality, and it sounded like something a crazy or drunk person would say, but she could tell that Brittany was being sincere with her. She didn't look drunk, and beside her extreme exuberance, she didn't seem like a crazy person either. She was starting to believe that all of this was 100% true.

"So Santa is a real person and he was in the mall today?"

"Mm-hmm." Brittany mumbled. She had just taken a bite of another cookie.

"And you're really an elf?"

"Yep." Brittany said proudly.

"But you're so tall. I thought you guys were short."

"That's just a myth." Brittany said with a shrug. "Some elves are tall and some are short. We come in all sizes."

"What about your ears? Are they pointy?" Santana asked with a chuckle, mostly as a joke, but when Britany giggled and pushed her hair behind her ear and Santana saw the distinct point at the top of her ear, her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "Oh damn!" She gasped and leaned closer to get a better look. "Can I touch them?" She asked before she had the time to think that it might be a little inappropriate to ask that, but Brittany did seem to mind.

"Sure." She said with a warm smile.

Santana tentatively reached her hand out. When she was a mere inch away from Brittany's ear, she stopped, second-guessing her decision to touch it, just in case it was a trap, but that only lasted a moment. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she had to know if those points were real. She moved her hand forward and gently ran the tip of her finger across the shell of Brittany's ear.

Brittany giggled because it tickled, and Santana's eyes widened again because it felt like a real ear, just pointy. She ran her finger across her ear a few more times.

"Can I tug it?" Santana asked just to make sure it wasn't some elaborate stage makeup.

Brittany couldn't help but to chuckle at Santana. "Sure."

Santana just nodded and pinched her ear between her forefinger and thumb and tugged on the top a few times. "Oh my god, these are real! You're a real elf." Santana chirped and rubbed her finger over her ear a few more times before she pulled back and looked Brittany up and down.

"I told you I was real." Brittany said smugly.

"I know; I was wrong." Santana said and she didn't like to say that often. "I just wasn't expecting an elf to look like you do. I was expecting some tiny mythical creature that didn't look at all like a human."

Brittany shrugged. "That's just folklore that got twisted over the centuries by some mean people. We're just people. We just happen to have pointy ears and magic powers."

" _Centuries?"_ Santana thought which brought another question to mind. "How old are you?"

"I'm ninety eight years old." Brittany said and Santana's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

"Ninety-eight?" Santana yelped. "You don't look that old. What is the average lifespan for elves?"

"About three hundred years." Brittany said. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight." Santana said and she felt like a baby compared to Brittany.

"We're both a third of the way through our lifespans." Brittany noted.

"So if you were a human, we'd be close in age?"

Brittany thought about it for a second. "I think that's a pretty good comparison."

"Can I ask you one more question and then I promise to stop interrogating you?" Santana said.

"I don't mind you asking me questions." Brittany said with a smile. "I like that you're curious about me. I'm curious about you too. I wanna know everything about you."

Santana felt her cheeks heat up. "That might be a lot to learn in two weeks." She said in a soft voice.

"I think I'm up for the challenge of becoming the world's foremost expert on Santana Lopez. I mean, she's only the sweetest person ever. Why wouldn't I want to know everything about her?" Brittany said with a cheeky smile and wink.

Santana giggled nervously and her cheeks burned even hotter. She hoped that it wasn't as visible as it felt. "I, uh-yeah." She said stumbling through her response. "I'd like to get to know more about you too." She was very curious about Brittany.

Brittany just chuckled at Santana's flustered state. "So what did you want to ask me?"

Santana cleared her throat trying to shake herself out of her stupor. "You said that I gave you your name, but how can that be if you're ninety-eight? You had to have a name in the North Pole."

"I did have another name, but Brittany is my name now. After years of training, we're paired with our new family, and when they give us a name, it's like a badge of honor for scout elves, so we adopt it as our new names."

"But what if I gave you a name you didn't like?"

Brittany shook her head because that question was irrelevant to her. "I like Brittany." She said lacing her fingers with Santana's. "I like it a lot."

Santana felt a tingle form in her hand, and she wasn't sure if she felt the tingle because she liked Brittany holding her hand, or if it was Brittany's Christmas magic. "I'm glad you like it." She said shyly.

Brittany just smiled at her as she stared at her. Santana stared back at her for a few moments, but when she felt the tingles spread from her hand up her arm, and Brittany's gaze started to feel too heavy, she had to break eye contact and she pulled her hand back, scratching the back of her neck.

"So…what do you wanna do for your first night away from the North Pole?" Santana asked breaking the silence that fell between them. She wasn't sure what kind of rite of passage elves had when they hit big milestones, but she didn't want Brittany to miss out.

"I'm fine with whatever. I just wanna be with you." Brittany practically cooed.

That made Santana's cheeks burn again, and she found herself wanting to just be with Brittany too. "Do you have to go back to the North Pole tonight to report to Santa?"

Brittany shook her head. "I only have to do that with kids."

"So how does a movie and hot chocolate sound? We can talk some more too."

"I think that sounds perfect." Brittany said bouncing a little in her seat.

She was looking forward to it. She loved movies and she lived for hot chocolate as it was her favorite drink, but the best part about Santana's suggestion was that they were going to continue their conversation. She just couldn't get enough of Santana.

-()-()-()-()-

 **A/N** : I hope you all liked the start of this little story. Thank you for reading and if you get a chance, please let me know your thoughts. I appreciate and love feedback!

This fic is going to be four chapters long, plus an epilogue. The first four chapters are written and beta-ed, but I still need to write the epilogue. I plan to update this fic every day, the only exception being if I can't get the epilogue finished and beta-ed by Christmas day. If so, you might have to wait a day or two for it, but I'm going to do everything I can to have it finished by Friday.

My beta **naynay1963** deserves so much thanks for finding time to beta. She's been great and part of this fic came from a prompt she sent me. I just combined our ideas and this fic is the final product.

And if you're looking for more Christmas Brittana fics, I have two one-shots from previous years if you're interested: **I'll Be Home for Christmas…Maybe** and **The Sweetest Moment**

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own 'Glee' or any copyrighted material or products that are mentioned in this story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next week flew by for Santana. She had taken off from work so she could spend it with her family while they were in town. They had a lot of plans for their visit, which Santana loved because it meant that she was making memories and spending quality time with her niece and nephew, but as much as she loved spending time with them, she also loved when she was able to go home and spend time with Brittany.

They became quick friends and Santana enjoyed her company. They only had another week together before Brittany had to go back to the North Pole, so she wanted to spend as much time with her as she could, but unfortunately, their time was more limited than she would have liked. She couldn't be with her family and Brittany at the same time because she had to be in her toy form when anyone else was around. She couldn't risk anyone else seeing her, and she had to be there for the kids to see her because they looked for her every time they came in the house.

So Santana cherished the time that they had together. They stayed up late every night talking, watching movies, playing games, and creating elaborate and fun scenes for her niece and nephew to find Brittany in every day. The kids went crazy over them and Santana earned serious brownie points with her mother because she was impressed with them as well. She appreciated that Santana was putting that much effort into something she had been against doing in the first place.

When Santana came home one night at the beginning of the second week, she came into the house through the garage and called out to Brittany to let her know that she was by herself and it was safe to come out.

Within seconds, Brittany met her in the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around Santana, hugging her tightly. Santana wrapped her arms around Brittany as well. She practically melted into the embrace, happy to see her after such a long day apart. This was the longest they had gone without seeing each other since Brittany arrived and they both felt the sting that came from the absence.

"I missed you so much today, San." Brittany finally said.

"I missed you too, Britt." Santana cooed.

They held each other for a few more moments before they pulled back from the embrace.

"Did you have fun?" Brittany chirped.

"Yeah. The zoo was great, and the kids loved the moving light display." Santana said taking off her coat and draping it over the back of a chair, but there was something in Santana's tone that caught Brittany's attention.

"So if you had fun, why do you seem sad?"

Santana sighed. "I'm not sad…just torn I guess." She said and Brittany scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

"Why?"

"Well the kids asked to come over tonight for a sleepover, and you know that I can't tell them no, not when they were so sweet about it, so I told them yes. They're at my parents' house now packing a bag, but they're going to be over here soon."

It took a second for Brittany to understand why Santana was torn about them coming over, but then she realized that it mean that they wouldn't be alone.

"Oh." Brittany whispered.

"Yeah." Santana said. "And I feel terrible, because I want them to spend the night, but I also don't want to miss out on time with you. You've been home all day by yourself and now you're going to have to spend the night as a toy."

"It's okay, San." Brittany said slipping her hand into Santana's and lacing their fingers. "We can still have our time together. It'll just have to be after the kids go to bed."

"Are you sure that's okay?"

Brittany nodded. "Yes, but we'll have to be really careful that they don't see me."

"You know they'd never know you were an elf. We could just tell them that you're my friend if they accidently see you."

"Maybe, but just to be on the safe side, let's be careful. Santa didn't make too big of a deal with you seeing me, but he will be really upset if they see me, and I don't want to try his patience."

"We'll be careful." Santana promised. "So when was the last time you ate? I'm going to order a pizza after the kids get here, but I don't want you to have to wait to eat."

"I had the rest of the cookies a couple of hours ago." Brittany smirked.

Santana shook her head. "Britt, you can't just eat cookies and candy for your meals."

For the past week, Santana made sure that Brittany ate a decent meal when she was around, but when she was by herself, Brittany tended to gravitate towards the sweets.

"But-"

"Don't 'but' me, Britt. What happens in North Pole isn't going to fly here. Not under my watch. You need a balanced meal. Then you can have dessert."

"I had the sandwich and pasta salad you made me for lunch." Brittany said to clarify. She liked that Santana cared that much about her to care about what she ate. "I had the cookies for a snack."

"Oh." Santana said biting her lower lip. Now she felt bad for giving her a hard time. "Well that's good. How about I heat up the leftovers from last night for you and you can have that before you have to go back into the tree."

Last night Santana and Brittany rearranged some of the ornaments in the tree so it looked like Brittany had built a fort in the tree.

"Can I have a cup of hot chocolate too?" Brittany asked with a sweet smile and Santana couldn't say no.

"Sure."

"Yes!" Brittany cheered wrapping her arms around Santana and bringing her close to her. "You really are a big softy."

"I am not." Santana countered and she hardened her face to look tough.

Brittany just giggled and kissed her on the cheek. Santana had not been expecting the kiss and immediately she blushed, her face turning shy. Brittany giggled again. "See, you're a softy." She said and kissed Santana on her cheek again before she released Santana from her hold. "It's cute."

Santana was in a daze as she touched her cheek that Brittany kissed. Her whole body was tingling. "Um…food. You need food." She finally said when her brain started working again, and Brittany had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

The whole time Santana was heating up the food, she couldn't take her mind off Brittany kissing her. Twice. Sure they were chaste and on her cheek, but that didn't make them any less significant to Santana. She loved the way it felt when Brittany hugged her and held her hand, but now that she knew what her lips felt like, she wanted to feel them again.

It was then that Santana truly realized that what she had been feeling for Brittany was more than just the excitement of making a new friend. She had a crush on her, and it was a huge, head over heels kind of crush. They were friends, and Santana would even go so far to say that Brittany was her best friend, but she wanted more than friendship.

She wanted it all.

By the time that Lisa, Santana's sister-in-law called to say that she was on her way over with the kids, Santana had managed to work herself, and her newly realized romantic feelings for Brittany into a knot.

"Alex and Ally are on their way over." Santana said.

"Awesome. I can't wait to watch you guys." Brittany chirped as she put her dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

Santana couldn't help but to laugh. "You creep." She joked.

Brittany just shook her head, but she was smiling. "I'm not a creep. I'm a scout elf. There's a difference. Plus I have to have something to report to Santa."

"Wait, you're going back to the North Pole tonight?" Santana asked with a pout. "I thought we were hanging out after the twins went to bed."

"We are silly." Brittany giggled. "As soon as you put the kids in bed, I'll pop back to the North Pole, give my naughty or nice report, and then I'll be back. I'll probably be fifteen minutes max. You won't even notice that I'm gone."

"Okay." Santana said with a smile. "Well you better get back in the tree." She said and she almost started laughing because she was sure that this would be the only time in her life that she would say something like that.

"Have fun being 'not a softy' with the twins." Brittany teased walking up to the Christmas tree.

"Have fun creepin'." Santana shot back playfully.

"I'll be watching you, so how can I not have fun." Brittany said with a smirk and then she winked at Santana causing her to blush again.

Before Santana could respond, the doorbell rang and she turned to look at the front door. "They're here." She said but when she looked back at Brittany, she saw that she was already in the tree and she was a toy again. "Christmas magic." She mumbled, still surprised, and impressed with Brittany's elf powers.

-()-()-()-()-

By the time Santana put the twins in bed and read them a bedtime story, she was worn out. They had played hard all night. She went into the living room and noticed that Brittany was no longer in the tree. She assumed that she had left for the North Pole already, so she checked to make sure that all the doors were locked before she went into her room. She had already changed into her pajamas because the twins insisted on having a pajama party, so she lounged on the bed as she waited for Brittany to come back. She read a couple of emails on her phone to pass the time, but it wasn't long before there was a soft knock on her door.

Santana stood up and went to the door, expecting one of the twins, but she was hoping that it was Brittany. She smiled when she saw that she got her wish. "Hey." She cooed and opened the door further to let Brittany in.

"Hi." Brittany whispered stepping in and closing the door behind her. This was the first time that she had been in Santana's bedroom, so she subtly looked around, taking in every little detail of Santana's personal area that she could find.

"Everything taken care of with Santa?" Santana asked and sat on the side of her bed, patting the spot beside her.

"Yep. The twins are still on the nice list." Brittany said sitting down. "It looked like you guys had a blast tonight and you were so cute running around the house pretending to be the tickle monster."

Santana chuckled. "They're so ticklish; I love playing around with them." She said before yawning. "I'm sorry. The kids wore me out."

"It's okay. The hop to the North Pole can be pretty tiring too. We can just go to bed if you want."

"But I wanna hang out with you for a while."

Brittany looked around the room and noticed that there was a T.V. mounted on the wall across from the bed. "We can watch a movie in here if you want. It's probably safer to watch it in here anyways. The door is closed, so if one of the kids get up, we have a warning before they see us together."

"Sounds good." Santana said and yawned again. "I put the twins in the bed in the guest room, so unfortunately you can't sleep in there tonight. If you don't mind sleeping in the same bed as me, you can sleep in here or…" before she could offer her the couch, Brittany cut her off.

"In here is fine." She said quickly. "As long as you don't mind sharing."

Santana felt her cheeks heat up and she shook her head. "I don't mind."

"Awesome." Brittany said and they both got caught in another stare.

It lasted for a few moments before Santana turned her head, shying away. She noticed that the clothes that she had given Brittany to sleep in were on her dresser. She had set them there earlier after she had put the twins' bags in the room. "Um, I set your pajamas on the dresser. How about I go and get us both a glass of water while you change, and then we can pick a movie to watch."

"Okay." Brittany said smiling and she stood up to get her pajamas.

Santana stepped out of the room to get the water, and when she returned a few minutes later, she saw Brittany hanging her elf dress in her closet.

"I hope you don't mind. I didn't want it to be out in the open in case the kids come in. I'm sure they would notice it."

"No, it's okay." Santana said and handed Brittany one of the glasses. "Um, I like to sleep on the left side, if that's okay."

Brittany giggled. "Of course it's okay. It's your bed. Plus I like the right side anyways."

Santana nodded, and the fact that their side preferences complemented each other was not lost on her.

They both slipped under the covers and Santana turned on the T.V. She flipped through the channels until she found a Christmas movie. They watched it for a few minutes, but it did little to hold either of their attentions.

Brittany rolled onto her side, propping her head up with her hand, and she just stared at Santana.

Santana rolled over onto her side, mirroring Brittany. She smiled at her and then she giggled when Brittany playfully stuck her tongue out at her.

"You have the cutest laugh." Brittany said. "I love it."

"Thanks." Santana said shyly.

She just stared at Brittany for a few moments and if she didn't know any better, she would have thought that she was human. She tentatively reached her hand out and tucked Brittany's hair behind her ear so she could see the point of her ear.

"Sometimes I forget that you're an elf." Santana confessed.

Brittany slid her hand over the comforter to Santana's hand and laced their fingers together. "When I'm with you, I sometimes forget that I'm not human too."

"I wish you didn't have to leave in a week. Next Christmas is too long away to see you again." Santana said softly.

"I know." Brittany said with a flat smile and lightly squeezed Santana's hand. "You don't know how much I wish I could stay."

"I wish that I could take you out on a date."

"Yeah?" Brittany asked shyly.

This was the first time that Santana was able to make her shy, and while she normally didn't like to talk about her feelings, it encouraged her to tell Brittany more of how she felt about her.

"Mm-hmm. I like everything about you Britt. Everything. And when I'm with you, you make me feel so many things, but mostly I just feel happy. I want to be around you all the time. I want to hold your hand, and hug you, and…and I wanna kiss you. I just want more of you and I hate that you have to leave."

Brittany's heart leapt in her chest at hearing that and her own feelings for Santana surged inside her. She let go of Santana's hand and leaned forward, cupping her cheek and kissing her softly.

Santana whimpered when Brittany's lips touched her own. If she thought the kisses that Brittany gave her on her cheek were amazing, the one on her lips were even better.

When Brittany pulled back from the kiss, she nuzzled her nose with Santana's before she leaned back just enough so she could look at her face. "I'm all tingly." She whispered.

Santana could help but to let out a little laugh. She was tingly all over too. "Are you sure it isn't your magic?" She joked.

Brittany just shook her head. "Nope. That's all you."

Santana cupped Brittany's cheek and rubbed her cheek with her thumb. "You make me feel tingly too. You have from the first night we met."

Brittany smiled shyly. She leaned in and kissed Santana again, taking her bottom lip between her own. Santana hummed, returning the sweet and soft kisses, until she needed to feel more and she scooted closer to Brittany, deepening the kiss. They couldn't hold back the moans that they made as their tongues touched for the first time.

They kissed and kissed and kissed, until Santana reluctantly had to pull back to for air. She rested her forehead against Brittany's and their chests pressed into each other as they took deep breaths. Brittany slid her hand to the back of Santana's neck and played with the hairs at the base of her head as Santana rubbed her cheek with her thumb.

They laid in bed, cuddled in silence for a few minutes before Brittany spoke. "Your sweet lady kisses are the best."

Santana chuckled and then sighed. "How am I ever going to let you go?"

Brittany didn't know how she was going to let Santana go either, but she didn't want to spend the short amount of time they had left being sad. She nuzzled her nose with Santana's and kissed her again.

"Let's not think about it right now." She whispered and pecked Santana's lips again. "Let's just enjoy each other while we can."

Santana wasn't so sure that she could keep from thinking about it, but she would try to push it out of the forefront of her mind because she wanted to enjoy every second with Brittany that she could until they were able to see each other again.

"Okay." Santana said and she kissed Brittany again, deepening it immediately.

When they parted again, Santana kissed Brittany on the tip of her nose and then she yawned.

Brittany knew she was tired and she was tired herself. "Let's go to bed honey." Brittany said and Santana's heart flipped in her chest from the term of endearment.

"Okay." Santana yawned again. "Can we cuddle?"

Brittany giggled and draped her arm around Santana's hip. "I would be upset if we didn't."

"Ugh, I don't want to move to turn everything off." Santana whined.

"I got it." Brittany said and she snapped her fingers, turning the lights and the T.V. off.

"Holy crap, that was cool." Santana breathed out. Every time she witnessed Brittany's powers, she was amazed.

Brittany giggled. "Christmas magic."

Santana leaned in and kissed Brittany softly on her lips. "Night Britt." She said through a yawn.

"Night, San. Sweet dreams."

"You too." Santana mumbled and she was asleep within seconds.

-()-()-()-()-

The next morning, Santana was in a dead sleep when the twins barreled into her room.

"Auntie Tana! Auntie Tana!" They called excitedly and it jolted Santana from her slumber.

"Waa?" Santana drawled as she sat up quickly, unaccustomed to being taken from her sleep so abruptly. "What's up guys?

"We can't find Brittany." Ally said. "She was in the tree, but now we can't find her."

It was then that Santana realized that they forgot to set up a scene for Brittany for the kids to find. Her heart drop in her stomach thinking that they had caught her in bed with Brittany. She slowly turned her head to the right, expecting to find her laying there under the blanket, and she was, but thankfully, she was a toy.

Santana sighed in relief because she was glad that the kids didn't see Brittany as a person. She could only imagine trying to explain who the unknown woman in her bed was. The twins knew that she liked girls over boys, but they were five, and loved to ask questions, and at the moment, she was not in the mood to have an in-depth conversation about it with them.

"There she is!" Alex cheered bouncing up and down and pointed to Brittany

"Why is she sleeping in your bed?" Ally asked cocking her head to the side.

"Umm…" Santana stalled scrambling to come up with a response, but in the end, she went with the truth, minus the kissing and cuddling. "She must've been tired. She had to go to the North Pole last night to give Santa her report on you guys, and it's a long trip, so I guess since you two were in the bed in the guest room, she needed a place to sleep, and there was an open spot in my room."

That seemed to work because the kids nodded.

"So is she going to stay in bed all day?" Alex asked.

"I don't think so. She'll probably move later when we aren't watching." Santana said. "But we should let her sleep a little longer."

"Yeah, let her sleep. We'll look for her later." Ally said.

"Good girl." Santana said. "Why don't you two go watch TV in the living room and I'll be in there in a few minutes to make breakfast."

"Can we have pancakes?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, Auntie Tana; pancakes!" Ally cheered.

Santana just smiled at them. "Okay, we can have pancakes _and_ chocolate milk."

"YAY!" Both kids cheered as they jumped up and down.

"Okay, okay, go watch cartoons and I'll be there in a minute." Santana said with a chuckle.

The kids ran out of the room, thankfully closing the door behind them and Santana fell back on the bed with a heavy sigh. She was glad they dodged a bullet. She turned to look at Brittany, and she was a person again, which made Santana jump from the suddenness of the change.

"Damn, that freaks me out sometimes." She said putting a hand over her pounding heart.

"Sorry." Brittany said. She didn't mean to startle her. "That was close. I'm usually a light sleeper, but I didn't hear them 'til the last second. I just barely had time to change before they came in."

"Well at least they didn't see you."

"Yeah, we were lucky." Brittany said and she smiled as she watched Santana rub the sleep out of her eyes. "You're so cute when you first wake up."

Santana rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm sure I look amazing." She joked.

"You do." Brittany said and leaned in kissing Santana softly.

Santana sighed contently as she returned the kiss and she reached over, pulling Brittany closer to her.

When they parted from the kiss, Brittany rested their foreheads together. "I like this."

"I do too." Santana said but then she got a sinking feeling in her stomach because she knew they had less than a week before Brittany had to leave. She leaned in and kissed Brittany again, because she could. She would rather only have her for a week then not at all.

They kissed for a few more minutes until Santana reluctantly pulled back. "If I don't go out there soon the twins are going to come looking for me. They're probably waiting for the chocolate milk." She chuckled.

Brittany giggled too. "Are you going to save some pancakes for me?"

"Of course." Santana cooed and pecked Brittany on her lips. "Since you're stuck in here until we leave, you might as well try to get some more sleep. The twins apparently don't know the meaning of sleeping in." She grumbled glancing to her alarm clock that showed that it was a little after seven o'clock in the morning.

"I'll try, but it won't be as good as sleeping next to you is."

Santana smiled and kissed Brittany softly again. "We have to meet everyone around noon so I'll be back in a few hours to shower."

"When do you think you'll be home?"

"Probably after dinner, but I'll try to get away as soon as I can."

"Okay." Brittany said with smile. "I can't wait for you to get back."

"Me either." Santana smiled. She was looking forward to their alone time.

Brittany leaned in and kissed her, softly at first and then she deepened it, letting it linger between them until they heard giggling from the living room.

"I better go check on them." Santana said after breaking the kiss

"Yeah." Brittany giggled. "There's no telling what they're up to."

Santana flipped the blanket back and slid out of bed. She went into her bathroom to relieve her bladder and brush her hair and teeth. When she came back, she saw Brittany laying on her side with her head propped up with her hand. "Do you want me to smuggle anything in for you before the twins notice?"

Brittany shook her head. "I'm fine. I'm just going to go back to sleep while I can."

"Okay." Santana and leaned down kissing Brittany one last time. "I'll check on you in a little while."

"Have fun." Brittany cooed.

"Thanks Britt."

Brittany winked and then laid down; waiting to turn herself into a toy again after Santana was out of room.

-()-()-()-()-

 **A/N** : Two chapters in two days! As always, thank you for reading and I love your feedback, so if you get a chance, please let me know what you think of the story.

Chapter 3 will be published tomorrow.

I owe so much thanks to my beta **naynay1963** for sacrificing time during the holidays to proof read. I couldn't do it without her to catch my (sometimes embarrassing) typos!

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own 'Glee' or any copyrighted material or products that are mentioned in this story.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next few days flew by even faster than the first week. Santana couldn't believe how quickly it went. It was already Christmas morning and it meant she only had a few hours left with her brother, sister-in-law, and the twins. They would be leaving that night to go to Lisa's parents and it also meant that she only had one full day left with Brittany. She had to leave for the North Pole the day after Christmas.

Santana woke up earlier than her alarm, and try as she might, she had trouble going back to sleep. She thought about getting up and starting her day. She had a lot to do since they were having Christmas lunch/dinner at her house, but she didn't want to move sooner than she had to, because Brittany was holding her, so she laid in bed cuddling with her until her alarm went off at nine o'clock.

Brittany stirred when she heard the noise, and after turning off her alarm, Santana rolled over to face her. She giggled as she watched Brittany doze off again, so she kissed her forehead, then both eyelids, nose, cheeks, and chin. By the time that she made it to her lips, Brittany was smiling.

"I know you're awake." Santana said and kissed Brittany's lips.

"No I'm not." Brittany said keeping her eyes closed.

"Oooh." Santana drawled. "So I guess my kisses aren't enough to wake you up then."

"Yes they are." Brittany said. "I just need more."

"More?" Santana chuckled playing along. She had no problem giving Brittany as many kisses as she wanted.

"Like two more cheek kisses, three lip pecks, and one long kiss."

"That's a lot of kisses." Santana teased.

"I'm like Tinkerbell. She needs applause to live; I need Santana kisses to get motivated."

"I thought Tinkerbell was a pixie, not an elf?"

"She is, and they are nowhere near as cool as elves. Now stop changing the subject and give me my morning kisses. I need them."

Santana giggled and kissed Brittany on her cheeks, pecked her lips three times, and then she kissed her softly, deepening it after a few moments.

That was all the motivation that Brittany needed as she gripped Santana's hip before she pressed into her, rolling Santana on her back and laying on top of her. Santana moaned from the feeling of having Brittany's full body on top of her. She tangled their legs together and buried both hands in Brittany's hair.

Things heated up quickly as the sounds of their kisses and moans filled the room. This was the most heated make out that they had had since taking their relationship to the next level and it took everything that Santana had in her not to put her hands under Brittany's shirt and touch her in the places she had dreamed about. She was so turned on by Brittany, and she wanted all of her, but for her own sake, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She had spent a lot of years when she was younger having meaningless sex. She liked sex and the way it felt physically, but when she realized that it was better with feelings, sex took on a new meaning for her. It wasn't just a means for a physical release anymore. It was also a way for her to connect with someone completely. She had deep emotional ties to Brittany and craved having a total connection with her. She had never felt the pull to be with someone as much as she had with Brittany, but she knew if they went there, it would absolutely break her heart when Brittany had to leave.

She knew she was going to be hurt and sad when she left. It was inevitable, but despite knowing that, she couldn't stay away from her. She liked kissing and cuddling with her. She was going to make the most out of her time with Brittany while she could, but keeping sex off the table was the only way she knew to protect herself from being totally crushed when she left, so before things went too far, she reluctantly broke their kiss.

Brittany sensed Santana's reluctance to go further, and without having to ask her why, she seemed to know the reason, because she too had a heart that was going to be broken when she left. So she rested her forehead on Santana's, and just held her as their breathing calmed down.

"How much time do we have before your family comes over?" Brittany asked.

"A couple of hours." Santana said. "They told the twins that they we're doing presents here, so they are going to be chomping at the bit to get over here."

Her mother was making the ham, turkey, and stuffing and bringing it over as soon as they were done, but Santana was making all the sides and desserts, so she had a lot to do if they hoped to have everything ready around two o'clock.

"Then we better get up and get started." Brittany said and kissed Santana on her forehead.

"Yeah." Santana said with a sigh. She was looking forward to being with her family, and watching the twins open their presents, but she would have given anything for a few more hours to cuddle in bed with Brittany.

When they walked into the living room, Santana gasped when she saw all the gifts under and around the tree. Miguel had dropped off a bunch of presents the night before, and she had put her gifts under the tree after he left, but there was more than when they went to bed. A lot more.

"Where did all these come from?" Santana asked looking around at the gifts.

"Santa." Brittany said.

"But…they were never there before." She noticed that they were for each person in her family and it said 'From Santa' on the labels.

"You didn't believe in him before." Brittany said with a shrug.

Santana just looked at Brittany in wonderment. "Did you have something to do with this?"

Brittany smiled sheepishly. "Maybe I did tell Santa about you as well in my reports. I just wanted you and your family to have the best Christmas ever."

"Aww, Britt, thank you. The gifts are great, but it's already the best Christmas ever because I'm spending it with my family _and_ you."

Brittany just smiled shyly.

"Come here." Santana said wrapping her arms around Brittany and kissing her softly. The kiss lingered between them for a few moments before they parted. "You are the sweetest person ever. Human or elf."

Brittany blushed. "I'm just glad that you liked it."

"I do. Everyone isn't going to know what to do when they see this."

Brittany giggled. "I can't wait for that, so when we make my spot for later, we need to make sure that it's somewhere that I can see."

"Absolutely." Santana said with a smile. "I want you to be close by, even if I can't talk to you."

Brittany smiled and leaned in, placing a quick kiss on her lips. "Come on. As much as I could do nothing but kiss you all day, we have a lot of stuff to do in a short amount of time."

-()-()-()-()-

For the next few hours, they set about getting things ready. Brittany set the dining room table, and when she was finished, she joined Santana in the kitchen. Desserts were obviously her specialty, so she took charge of those while periodically stealing kisses from Santana who was concentrating on making the side dishes. Before they knew it, Maribel had called to say that they were on their way over.

"Where do you wanna hang out?" Santana asked.

"I kinda like the mantle of the fireplace. It's a good central location. I can see everything in the living room and into the dining room."

Santana nodded. She wished that Brittany didn't have to turn into a toy. She wished that she could be a part of the celebration instead of just watching it. "Alright." She sighed. "I guess I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Have fun with your family, San." Brittany cooed and kissed Santana before she went up to the fireplace. Instead of creating an elaborate scene this time, she simply perched herself in the middle of the mantle with her legs dangling off the edge.

"Thanks Britt." Santana whispered and went back into the kitchen to finish a few things.

When her family arrived a few minutes later, she winked at Brittany on her way to the door. As she opened the door, she was practically tackled by the twins.

"Merry Christmas Auntie Tana!" The kids cheered as they hugged her.

"Merry Christmas!" She said kissing them on the top of their heads and hugging them.

Santana greeted the rest of her family and ushered them in the house. The adults went straight to the kitchen as they were holding heavy platters, and the kids ran in to the living room, shedding their coats, hats, and mittens. They spotted Brittany on the mantle first and then they looked at all the presents, their eyes widening.

"Wow!" Alex yelled. "Mom, come look!"

"There are so many presents!" Ally said looking around for the ones with her name.

Santana just chuckled at the kids and then looked up at Brittany, winking at her again. The rest of the adults came into the living room to investigate the excitement, and they were surprised by the amount of gifts under the tree as well.

"Santana!" Maribel gasped assuming that they were from Santana because she knew how many gifts Miguel had brought over.

"They're not all from me." Santana said. "They're from Santa. Brittany told him how good we had been this year."

"They are!" Ally said. "Look!" She said picking up a gift and pointing to the labels.

All the adults looked at the gifts and labels, and they just assumed that Santana had bought the gifts and put 'From Santa' on them to play it up for the kids.

Miguel and Lisa refereed the kids to make sure that they didn't just tear into the gifts, and Maribel pulled Santana away from the tree and over by the fireplace.

"Mija, you are too much." She whispered giving her a hug. "When I gave you the elf, I thought you would just move it around a few times, but you went way beyond my expectations. You really made it special for the kids, and then with these gifts…I still don't know what to say about that except thank you."

"You're welcome, Mama." Santana said. "But the gifts really are from Santa."

Maribel just quirked her eyebrows, but then she chuckled because she thought that Santana was still playing around in case the kids over heard them. "That's right, they're from Santa. It was very sweet of Brittany to tell him about us and for him to bring us all these gifts." She said and Santana knew that her mother didn't believe her and she was still trying to thank her. "I'll be sure to have the kids write Santa and Brittany a thank you letter before they leave." She said with another chuckle and then kissed Santana on her cheek before she went back to the kids to see what they were doing.

Santana looked up at Brittany and shrugged her shoulders silently telling her that she tried to tell them. She was certain that she saw her wink back at her.

-()-()-()-()-

When everyone left Santana's house a little after eight o'clock, she found herself locking the front door before quickly returning to the living room.

"Okay, Britt." She said and a second later Brittany transformed, coming to stand right in front of her.

"That looked like it was a lot of fun."

Santana smiled and nodded. "It was." She said and wrapped Brittany in a tight hug. "I missed you."

Brittany kissed Santana on her temple and held her just as tightly. "I missed you too."

"Are you hungry? I secretly made you a plate before we put everything in the refrigerator."

"Yeah. I'm starving." Brittany said. "I love being a scout elf, but the worst part is watching everyone eat. It all looked so good."

"Well let's get you some food." Santana said, lacing her finger with Brittany's and leading her into the kitchen.

When Brittany was finished eating, they changed into their pajamas and met in the living room.

"I got you a gift." Santana said holding out a small wrapped gift as Brittany sat down on the couch beside her.

"I got you one too." Brittany said with a smile. She waved her hand and a gift appeared out of thin air.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to the fact that you can do things like that." Santana said with a chuckle.

Brittany giggled. "It is pretty awesome." She said handing Santana her gift and taking her own. "You go first."

"Alright." Santana said tearing the paper of the perfectly wrapped gift and revealing a medium sized photo album. When she opened the book and flipped through the pages, she didn't see anything in it. "It's empty."

Brittany shook her head. "At first glance it is, but this is a magical album. You fill it with your memories. Look at a page and think of something and you'll see it appear in front of you."

Santana opened the book again and looked down at it, thinking back to a few days ago when she and Brittany had been able to spend the whole day together. It took a few moments for anything to happen, but then she saw Brittany taking her hands and pulling her up from the couch to slow dance in front of the fire. The picture was moving and it was as if someone had been filming them. The only thing missing was the sound.

Santana gasped as she watched them dance together. "Oh my god, that's amazing."

Brittany just chuckled at Santana's excitement.

"Why isn't it in a first person perspective?" Santana asked curiously.

"That's part of the magic. It can be in first person or third person. It takes every detail from that memory, including things in your subconscious and your knowledge of your own involvement and it's able to turn it into a full scene."

"That's amazing. Let me try it again." Santana said looking down at the next page and thinking about Brittany and how beautiful she was when she smiled. Within seconds, a first person perspective of Brittany turning to look at her, and then smiling softly, appeared. Santana heart skipped a beat. That smile got her every time. She looked up at Brittany and she was so overwhelmed by her gift that she felt as if she was going to cry at any moment. She couldn't wait to fill her book with her memories of their time together. "Brittany…this is the best gift anyone has ever gotten me."

Brittany blushed. "I was hoping you would like it."

"I love it, thank you." She said and leaned in placing a lingering kiss to Brittany's lips. When they parted, Santana looked down at her book again, and saw the two different scenes she had made and she shook her head in amazement. "Elf magic just makes everything better."

Brittany chuckled. "It has its advantages."

Santana closed her book and set it on the coffee table, intending to put more memories in later. "I wish I could say my gift is as cool as yours, but unfortunately, I don't have any magic."

"You have plenty of magic." Brittany said and kissed Santana softly. "I know that I'm going to love your gift because you gave it to me." She ripped the paper off revealing a small black jewelry box. When she opened it, she saw a pair of crystal and diamond ear cuffs. "Santana, they're beautiful."

"At first I didn't know what to get you. Nothing seemed right, because it was so common, and I wanted to get you something out of the ordinary. I told you before that sometimes I forget that you're an elf, because there isn't much between us that is different, except magic and pointy ears. Anyways, I thought about those differences and I know it's random," she said reaching out and pushing Brittany's hair behind her ear so she could see it, "but I love your ears." She said and slowly ran her thumb over the shell of Brittany's ear. "And a simple pair of earrings didn't seem good enough. You need something that accentuates the full beauty of your ears."

A lump form in Britany's throat and she was all of a sudden feeling emotional. She had never thought of her ears being special before. Mainly because they were just ears, and almost everyone in the North Pole had ears that were just like hers, but with Santana, they were something that inherently set them apart, and Santana loved them anyways.

"I love them." Brittany said and leaned forward, kissing Santana.

Santana was momentarily surprised by the intensity of the kiss, but she returned it just as passionately, wrapping her arms around Brittany's neck and pulling her closer to her. They kissed until Brittany felt something wet rub against her cheek. She pulled back and saw that Santana was crying.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"I just…I just don't want you to leave." Santana breathed out. She had kept a stiff upper lip for almost a week, but she just couldn't hold it in anymore. "I'm sorry, I know you have to, and it's not fair for me to say that, but I can't help it. I hate that you're leaving for a year."

"I hate it too." Brittany sighed cupping both of Santana's cheeks, and wiping away her tears with her thumbs. She had tears forming in her eyes and she was seconds away from crying as well. "If I could stay, I would. You know that right?"

"I know." Santana said and swallowed hard. "Does it really have to be next Christmas before we can see each other again?"

A tear rolled down Brittany's cheek and she nodded. "I think so."

"But what if I looked for you every month or even every other month? I thought you said that you have to come back whenever your family looks for you."

"I don't think that will work for us." Brittany said with a sigh. "As much as I would like to use that loophole, Santa knows that you know I'm not a toy. There is no illusion to keep up and he's going to get upset if I'm not there to help in the toy shop."

"There has to be a way we can see each other." Santana said taking Brittany's hands away from her face and lacing their fingers as she set them in her lap. "What if I came to the North Pole?" She wasn't sure how she would get there, maybe elf magic or Brittany could borrow a sleigh and reindeer, but if not, she'd try to find a way.

"I don't know." Brittany said with another sigh. She had never heard of that happening before. She thought that was the least likely option because Santa was particular about the security of the village. The last time a media team tried to find it, he had to put a magical charm on it to make it invisible. "Maybe if I ask Santa, he'll let me come back to visit you." She thought that had a better chance of happening than Santana being allowed to visit the North Pole.

"Don't you get a vacation or something?"

"We get time off, but we don't really leave the North Pole unless it's something Christmas related."

Before now, that wasn't something that she ever questioned or considered. It was just something that everyone did, and she never minded it before. She loved the North Pole, but now that she had a reason to leave, she didn't know if it would be allowed unless it was a legitimate work reason. She knew Santa had rules in place for their safety and she knew that he had their best interest at heart.

Santana shook her head because she was having a hard time understanding that, but then she remembered that this was Brittany's first time away from the North Pole.

"I'll ask him. I promise." Brittany said and lightly squeezed Santana's hands.

"Okay." Santana sighed, letting go of one of Brittany's hands and wiping her face.

"He's a nice guy, San. I know him really well, so if I explain everything to him, maybe he'll let me come a couple of times a year."

"I hope so." Santana said with a sigh.

A year was a long time, but she thought that Brittany was worth the wait, even if she knew it was going to be hard not being able to see her for that long. A few days a year still wouldn't be enough time with her, but it would be better than a whole year. Anything at all would make her happy.

"Can we go to bed?" Brittany asked. "I know it's still early and we don't have to go to sleep; I just want to cuddle with you for the rest of the night."

Santana sighed in relief and nodded because she had been thinking the same thing. She doubted that she could sleep anyways knowing it was her last night with Brittany for an undetermined amount of time, but she wanted to be as close to her as she could for as long as she could.

Brittany stood up from the couch first, taking Santana by the hand and leading her into the bedroom. They slipped into bed, facing each other as they tangled their legs together and held each other.

They stayed up all night together. They talked, laughed, cried, and shared so many kisses and soft caresses that their lips were swollen and their bodies were tingling by the time morning arrived.

When Brittany went to take a shower, Santana made breakfast. She made hot chocolate and pancakes with chocolate chips, strawberries, and whip cream because she knew they were Brittany's favorites.

The house felt so quiet and dull now, and Santana thought about the fun and laughter that filled her house in the past two weeks. It really was the best Christmas she had ever had. She enjoyed being with her family, especially the twins, but Brittany being there was what set it apart from every other Christmas she had had. She loved coming home to her. She loved cooking for her. She loved spending time with her. She loved going to bed with her and waking up with her in the morning. She loved everything.

She was sure that she was falling for Brittany. She was hesitant to say that she was in love with her, because they had only known each other for two weeks, but she cared about her so deeply that she knew that if they had more time together, that it wouldn't take long for those feelings to run even deeper towards love. A tear rolled down each of her cheeks and she inhaled sharply as she wiped her face and forced her tears away. She was determined not to cry until after Brittany left.

When she was finished making the pancakes and hot chocolate, she set them on the table, but she needed to keep busy to distract her mind until Brittany was there to distract it for her; so she decided to make Brittany a care package with leftovers from Christmas dinner to take with her since she had loved the food so much.

She was just finishing when Brittany came into the kitchen wearing her green and red Christmas dress, no doubt magically dry-cleaned, and pressed with a snap of her fingers. Santana chuckled, because even though she was upset that Brittany was leaving, she still found Brittany's magic amusing.

"It smells good in here." Brittany said softly as she came up to Santana and hugged her.

Santana sighed and melted into Brittany, nuzzling her nose into the crook of her neck. "I made pancakes."

Brittany hummed and kissed Santana on her temple. "Thanks, San."

"You're welcome."

The hug lingered and neither of them wanted to let go, but eventually Santana pulled back from the embrace and motioned towards the table. She knew they couldn't stand there all day, and she wanted Brittany to eat before she had to make the trip to the North Pole.

"They're so cute." Brittany cooed when she noticed that the pancakes were decorated to look like Santa.

For the first time since getting out of bed, Santana gave a genuine smile that reached her eyes. "I thought you might like that."

"I love it."

That sat down at the table in the kitchen and they ate mostly in silence. Santana could barely eat, so she just picked at her food and moved it around her plate. Brittany didn't have much of an appetite either, but she didn't want to let the food that Santana went to all the trouble to not only make, but also decorate go to waste, so she forced herself to eat every bit of her Santa Claus pancakes.

When they were finished eating, Santana knew it was time for Brittany to go.

"I made a care package for you to take with you." She said in a low voice, and she couldn't look at Brittany. If she did, she was sure to cry. "It's the food from yesterday. I packed a few of the desserts, but mostly I put the food in there, because I know your sweet tooth is going to return when you get back and I wanted you to have a decent meal." She said with a half-hearted chuckle.

Brittany didn't say anything about the food, she just turned towards Santana, their legs touching, and she cupped her cheeks with both hands and gently raised her head. She leaned in slowly; nuzzling her nose with Santana's before she closed the distance between them and kissed her.

Santana inhaled deeply as Brittany lips touched her own, and she rested her hands high on Brittany's thighs, leaning closer to her, and kissing her more deeply. For the next few minutes, they tried to express everything they felt for each other through their kisses and soft touches.

When they finally parted, they were both breathless and fighting tears. "Do you h-have your s-stuff packed." Santana asked stumbling through her words as she took Brittany's hands into her own.

Brittany nodded. She didn't have much. Just the pictures and thank you letters that the twins made for her and Santa to thank them for the gifts, Santana's pajamas that she had been letting her use that Brittany said she was 'stealing' because they were so comfortable and reminded her of Santana, and the beautiful ear cuffs that Santana had given her as a Christmas gift.

"Britt, I…" Santana started to say, but she stopped and looked down again because she couldn't talk about her feelings for her without crying.

"I know, San." Brittany said. She had a lump in her throat and her voice was thick with emotion. "I feel the s-same way."

Santana nodded and tightened her hold on Brittany's hands. She kept her eyes down for a few more moments before she gathered the courage to look up at her. "I'm going to miss you so, _so_ much." Santana sighed feeling the tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm going to miss you too." Brittany said with a flat smile. "As soon as I can come back, I will, okay?"

Santana nodded and took a deep breath to keep from crying. "I'll be waiting."

Brittany leaned in kissing Santana deeply before she pulled back and rested her forehead against Santana's. "I'm going to get my stuff from the bedroom." She whispered.

"Okay." Santana sighed and let go of Brittany's hands.

Brittany kissed her on the cheek before she stood up and walked out of the kitchen.

Santana took a series of deep breaths to try to calm herself, and she rested her hand on her aching heart. She had managed to keep the tears at bay, but she knew that it wouldn't take long for her to become a sobbing mess.

When Brittany came back, she was holding a small red bag that Santana didn't recognize, but she figured it was a product of Brittany's magic. She stood up, went to the refrigerator, and pulled out a small canvas grocery store bag filled with Tupperware and handed it to Brittany.

"Fly safe, Britt." Santana said.

"I will." Brittany said setting the bags on the floor before she stepped closer to Santana and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her flush against her.

Santana whimpered from the contact and she wrapped her arms around Brittany, holding her tightly as she buried her nose in her neck and just breathed her in. Neither of them were sure how long they held each other before Brittany turned her head and leaned down to capture Santana's lips in a slow and tender kiss.

When they parted, Brittany kissed Santana's forehead, the tip of her nose, and then she kissed both cheeks. "I've gotta go." She whispered against Santana's cheek.

Santana nodded as her heart clenched in her chest and her eyes welled with tears again.

"Close your eyes." Brittany said.

Santana did as she was told and she felt Brittany pull away from her. She heard rustling and she assumed that Brittany picked up her bags. A moment later, she felt Brittany's lips on hers again.

"Until we can see each other again, my heart is with you." Brittany whispered and kissed Santana one more time.

When Brittany's lips left hers, Santana stood there for a few seconds with her eyes closed, and then she opened them to see that she was there by herself.

Brittany had left.

The pressure in her chest become tighter. She could no longer hold in her tears anymore and she started to cry. She put her hand on her chest, rubbing over her heart as she left the kitchen and went into her bedroom. She got into bed, taking Brittany's pillow into her arms and holding it tightly against her as she sobbed.

-()-()-()-()-

The next few days passed in a blur for Santana. She had called and asked for a few more vacation days from work, and thankfully, they let her have them because there was no way she could concentrate on anything. She was an emotional wreck. She felt worse than after any break up that she had ever gone through before, and she and Brittany didn't even break up. Technically, they weren't an official couple, but it felt like they were. She didn't want anyone but Brittany.

For three days, all she did was lie around her house crying and sleeping. Eating and showering were in there too, sometimes, but she had to force herself to get up to do them, but as soon as she did, she went back to bed. By the fourth day, her tears had lessened. She still felt a sinking feeling in her stomach every time she thought of Brittany, which was often, but she was starting to cope again. When a few more days passed and it was time for her to go back to work, she had pulled herself together enough to be able to work, but she still missed Brittany.

At work, she was able to bury herself in her tasks and focus her mind on that, giving her a temporary relief of the sadness she felt from Brittany's absence. When she came home from work and the house was empty, there was little relief unless she went into her office to work, because almost everything reminded her of Brittany. She considered opening the album that Brittany had given her so she could see her beautiful smiling face. She thought that maybe seeing it would make her feel a little better, but she was afraid to do so in case a sad memory either formed in a blank page, or even worse, replaced one or both of the happy memories she had put in it the night Brittany had given her the album, so she left it alone and trudged along, trying to mend her heart.

Her mother visited her as always, mostly unannounced, and she noticed that she seemed upset or distant about something, but Santana just dismissed it and said that it was just a work project that was getting to her. Maribel seemed skeptical that that was the real reason, but she could tell that Santana didn't want to talk about it, so she let it go, hoping that she would work it out soon.

Two more weeks passed without any word or sight of Brittany, but it started to sting a little less each day, and by the time the end of January rolled around, Santana was starting to feel a little more normal. She still missed Brittany immensely, but she was able to get through the days now without crying, well mostly. She still had her moments when she would tear up when she thought about Brittany not being there, but they were fewer and far between.

She came home from work one Friday afternoon, four and half weeks after Brittany left, and went about her usual routine. Shower, dinner, work in the office, and then she went into her room and decompressed in front of the T.V. She was almost asleep when she thought she heard a knock on her front door.

She looked at the time and noticed that it was almost ten o'clock at night. She couldn't think of anyone that would be at her door at this time of night, except maybe her mother and her next door neighbor's boyfriend who sometimes got confused which house was his girlfriend's when he had been out drinking with his friends. She was sure that it wasn't her mother though, since she and her father were out of town. She assumed it was the neighbor's boyfriend, and she was not in the mood to deal with him, so she decided to ignore him.

Unfortunately, after the third set of knocking, Santana was annoyed, so she got out of bed and went to the front door, intending to bitch at him for disturbing her. She looked through the blinds on the small window beside her door, and she couldn't tell who was there. All she could see was that they were wearing something red.

Then came the knocking again, and Santana flung the door open finding Brittany standing there with her fist in the air, poised to knock.

Santana's heart leapt in her chest at seeing Brittany standing there. "Oh my god, Britt!" She cried and practically threw herself into Brittany's arms, hugging her tightly.

At first when she saw Brittany, she thought that her mind had been playing a trick on her, because she had had a lot of dreams about Brittany over the past four weeks, but as Brittany giggled and wrapped her arms around her, she was sure this wasn't a dream. She felt real. She sounded real. She even smelled real.

They hugged for a few moments before Santana pulled back, immediately cupping Brittany's cheeks, and kissing her. She practically melted when she felt Brittany's familiar lips against her own again.

Brittany returned the kiss with as much enthusiasm as Santana. They kissed and kissed, until Santana remember that they were on her doorstep and anyone walking by could intrude on their private moment. She broke the kiss, smiling widely at Brittany as she ushered her into the house, and closed and locked the door behind them.

"I missed you so much, Santana." Brittany said with a sigh, and she couldn't help herself; she wrapped Santana in her arms and kissed her again. Long and deep until they were both in a daze and out of breath.

They rested their foreheads together when they parted and Santana let out a sigh of contentment. "I missed you too, Britt."

They held each other for a few minutes, before Santana took off Brittany's coat; then they went into the living room to sit on the couch.

"I'm so happy you're here." Santana said and she lightly squeezed Brittany's hand.

"Me too." Brittany cooed and pecked Santana's lips, just because she could.

"How long are you here for?" Santana asked and she was both excited and fearful of the answer.

She was hoping for at least a few days, or more, but the cynical side of her was expecting Brittany to say she was only there for the night. A few hours with Brittany would never be enough, but if that was all they had, then she would take it, and she would be happy that they got that time together.

"Um, I don't know." Brittany said and Santana scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

"You don't know?"

"Well, I do and I don't." Brittany said and Santana shook her head, still confused.

"What does that mean?" She asked with a curious chuckle.

"Um, well it means I could be here for a few months or I could be here for only a few minutes." Brittany said. "It depends on what you want."

"Months!" Santana quickly answered. "Oh my god, Britt, months! Why would you think I would only want you here for a few minutes?"

"I thought you would say that, but I had to make sure, because I needed to know if you had changed your mind about us while I was gone."

"No. Never." Santana said definitively and shook her head. "I missed you so much. I was miserable without you."

"I was sad without you too, San." Brittany said and lifted Santana's hand to kiss her knuckles. "I was so sad that it only took a few days for word to get to Santa that something was seriously wrong with me."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. He came to see me and asked me what was wrong and why I was so sad, and I told him everything. I told him how much I missed you and how I wished that I was still with you. I told him that I couldn't stand the thought of having to wait a year to see you again because I thought that I was in love with you, and that if he would let me, I wanted to be able to visit you as much as I could."

Santana felt her heart flutter when she heard Brittany say that she thought she was in love with her. She kind of thought that she was in love with Brittany too, because even though she was coping better, her longing to be with Brittany only intensified during their time apart. It never waned.

"I even told him that I was thinking about giving up my job and life in the North Pole to be with you."

That surprised Santana a little. "What did he say about that?" She asked. She was guessing it was somewhat good because Brittany was there, but she had said that she was only there for a few months, not forever.

"Well he said that there was a way for me to do that, but it came with consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" Santana asked slowly, and she wasn't sure she liked the sound of that.

"He could make me human, but he can't turn me back into an elf."

Santana's heart dropped into her stomach and she shook her head. "Please tell me you're still an elf." She said reaching out and tucking Brittany's hair behind her ear. She sighed in relief when she saw that her ears were still pointy.

"I'm still an elf…for now."

Santana couldn't believe was she was hearing. "Brittany, I want to be with you, I do, but it wouldn't be fair for me to ask you to do that."

"Think about it Santana, how is it going to work if I'm an elf and you're human-" She said, but Santana cut her off.

"I don't understand why it would be a problem. All you have to do is not use your magic unless you're in a private setting, and keep your hair down to hide your ears. I told you there isn't that much between us that's different, and we can hide both of those things."

"But you're forgetting about our ages. There's a difference of almost two hundred years of life span. I won't age at the same rate as you. I'll still look young when you're old. We can't hide that."

Santana was aware of Brittany's age, but she didn't think about it being a difference between them because Brittany looked as if she was the same age as she was, and for the first time, it hit her that Brittany would outlive her by at least a hundred and fifty years. When she was eighty, Brittany would only be a hundred and fifty years old. She would be middle aged, not elderly and close to the end of her life, as she would be. If Brittany became human, she wouldn't live another two hundred years, she might only live fifty or sixty years, and the thought of that made Santana feel sick.

"Britt, no. I can't ask you to change everything about you for me, and I _won't_ ask you to shorten your life like that."

"You're not asking me. This is my decision. I want to be with you."

"I want to be with you too, but what if it doesn't work out. Have you thought about that? What happens if we break up? You'd be human with no way to become an elf again."

"I have thought about that, well honestly I didn't think about that at first, but Santa did. He said that he could tell that I really cared for you, but he wasn't sure if what I was feeling for you could be true love after two weeks. He said that it was possible that I thought it was love, but that it could also be an infatuation brought on by the merriment of Christmas. I told him that I didn't think it was, but he suggested that before I make a final decision about becoming human, that we work on our relationship to see where it goes in a few months. If we're in love and we think it's going to be a lasting relationship, he said that he would grant my wish."

"Brittany…" Santana sighed. She didn't know what to do. "I…I don't know. It sounds like a good idea, but I just feel bad that you have to give up being an elf to be with me. I mean, can you imagine life without your magic or not living another two hundred years? Can you really give that up?"

"Santana, I've been thinking about it for weeks. It's all I've been able to think about. Before Santa would let me come, I had to help with the after Christmas audit, which usually takes a few weeks, so I've had a while to consider it, and I think it's a good idea for us to date and really get to know each other, but honestly I already know you're worth it."

"But _I'm_ not sure if I'm worth the risk." Santana said softly. "I don't want you to give up everything for nothing if I screw things up."

"San, why would you say something like that?" Brittany sighed and she leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "You're so worth the risk. You're one of the best people I know. I'm sure we're going to have our problems, and I'm sure there are going to be days that we're annoyed or mad at each other, but I know we can work through them. If I didn't think that we were meant for each other, I wouldn't be here ready to start building a life with you." She said and leaned in, kissing Santana's lips again. "All you have to do is say that you want this too and we can be together."

Santana searched Brittany hopeful face and she couldn't find an ounce of insincerity. She meant every word that she said and as much as she had reservations about Brittany becoming human, she knew that the decision wasn't hers. It was Brittany's, and it seemed as if there was no talking her out of it, or changing her mind. The fact that she was willing to give up everything she had ever known just so they could be together, filled Santana's heart, and made her want Brittany even more.

"I want this too." She said smiling and the lightly squeezed her hand. "I want everything with you."

Brittany smiled widely and she let go of Santana's hands, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into her for an excited and passionate kiss. When they pulled out of the kiss, Brittany laughed as she rested her forehead against Santana's and two tears of joy rolled down her cheeks.

"I want everything with you too, San. Everything."

-()-()-()-()-

 **A/N** : Hey everyone, so change of plans…Originally, I intended to break this chapter into two, and the third chapter would've ended after Brittany left for the North Pole. I went back and forth about it, and in the end, I decided not to have the chapter end sadly, so I combined them. This is the final chapter, but **there will be an epilogue**. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be ready by tomorrow, but it should be coming your way very soon, so keep an eye out for it!

Thank you for reading and pretty please send me your thoughts if you have a moment to do so! As always, my beta **naynay1963** deserves so much thanks for all of her great support.

If I don't have the epilogue published by Christmas day, I hope that everyone who celebrates has a Merry Christmas! For those of you who don't celebrate, but just like reading my Brittana fics, I hope you have a great day as well.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own 'Glee' or any copyrighted material or products that are mentioned in this story.


	4. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Santana stepped in front of the full-length mirror that was in her bedroom and looked over her appearance. Her family would be at her house in less than half an hour and she wanted to look her best for her first family Christmas Eve with Brittany. She checked to make sure that her makeup was perfect, every hair in place, and her red dress on point. She checked over everything twice before deciding she was finally ready. She went to the living room, and as she rounded the corner from the hallway, she saw Brittany sitting on the couch in front of the coffee table.

She tiptoed behind her and put her hands over her eyes. "Hey you." She whispered in her ear.

"Hi." Brittany cooed and hummed when Santana nuzzled her ear with her nose.

"I'm still not used to your new ears." Santana said nuzzling her ear again and taking her hands away from her eyes. "But I love them, and I love you."

"I love you too." Brittany giggled and turned to look at Santana as she came around the couch to sit beside her. "I think it's going to take me some time to get used to them as well. You wouldn't think that it would be that noticeable; it's just ears, but I can feel that they're different."

"Well it's only been twenty-four hours, you'll get used to them soon." Santana said encouragingly. "Although, I have to say that I'm going to miss kissing those points. Who knew that they were an erogenous zone for elves."

Brittany blushed, sliding her fingers over her right ear. "You can still kiss my new ears. I like it when you do that." She said shyly.

Santana smiled and leaned in, pecking Brittany's lips. "Oh I intend to." She promised in a low voice and pecked her lips again before she looked to the coffee table and saw that Brittany had a bag of multicolored mini marshmallows that she was stringing together. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just getting ready for Ally and Alex to come over. I'm going to have 'Brittany' repelling from the top of the tree using a marshmallow rope."

"They'll love that." Santana said with a smile.

Before Brittany became human, she made an actual toy elf in the toy shop that looked exactly as she did when she had been a toy so it would look as if Santana still had her Elf on the Shelf. Santana was glad for that because she did not want to get another one now that she knew they were not toy. A toy she was okay with, but an actual person watching her and Brittany in their home was too much. She couldn't deal with that, and thankfully, Brittany was in agreement. Now that she was looking at it from a different perspective, she had to admit that it was a little creepy. She didn't like the idea of one of her friends from the North Pole watching her all the time either.

"So I was thinking that maybe we should change her name." Santana said picking up the toy and straightening out her dress. "We could let the twins decide on a name. I just think it would be less confusing…and weird."

Brittany chuckled. "I was thinking about that too. Your parents definitely thought it was a weird coincidence that you started dating someone that had the same name as your toy elf; and then the twins kept giving me strange looks the first time they met me. I don't know what they were expecting me to do, but they were definitely suspicious of me. They weren't wrong though. Kids are more observant than they are given credit for."

Santana laughed and set the toy on the coffee table again. "They are. Good thing that we were able to convince them otherwise and no one really thinks that you were an elf."

"Your mom nearly caught me a few times." Brittany recalled with a chuckle.

When winter ended, and it became warmer, Brittany had a hard time adjusting to the heat. To help keep cool, she wore her hair up in a high ponytail whenever she was home, but Maribel had a habit of stopping by with little to no warning, so a few times she quickly had to pull her hair out of the ponytail to hide her ears.

Santana playfully rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but at least you don't have to worry about that anymore."

Brittany giggled. "Now we just have to make sure that no one sees my magic and we'll be set."

Surprisingly, when Brittany became human, she retained her magic. That was not something that she had been expecting. In an effort to ease into becoming a human, Brittany tried to limit using her magic. She learned how to do everyday tasks that she would normally use her magic for, but when Santa turned her human, her magic didn't disappear along with her pointy ears. Santa said that it was possible that since her Christmas magic was deeply seeded within her, and she had a profound love and respect for the spirt of Christmas that it would always stay with her.

Santana wasn't worried about anyone seeing Brittany use her magic though. She was very good at keeping it hidden. "You know, as much as I miss those sexy pointy ears of yours, I'm _so_ glad that you got to keep your magic. Not only is it cool as hell and so helpful at times, but it makes things in the bedroom at lot more interesting." She said with a smirk.

Brittany giggled and nodded knowingly. She didn't always use her magic when they were having sex. In fact, most of the time she didn't. They had a healthy and active sex life, but on occasion, she would use her magic to spice things up. Those were always exciting days for them.

Santana hummed and leaned into peck Brittany's lips again. She would have liked to kiss her more deeply, but she didn't want to ruin their makeup. "I can't wait to tell everyone about the engagement." She said with a wide smile and glanced to Brittany's left hand to see the ring she had put there.

Brittany grinned and pecked Santana's lips again. "I can't wait either."

They waited eleven months before Brittany asked Santa to turn her human. She wanted to go through the transition only three months after leaving the North Pole, but Santana was the one that asked her to wait a little while longer. She practically begged her to wait. She knew that this would be the biggest life changing decision that Brittany would ever make and she wanted to make sure that being with her as a human really was what Brittany wanted, and she didn't think that three months was enough time for her to be sure. Brittany didn't think that she had to wait any longer to be sure; she knew that Santana was the one for her, but she could see that it was important to Santana that she give it more time, so she agreed to wait until right before Christmas.

Within minutes of Brittany returning home from the North Pole after becoming human, Santana dropped to one knee, diamond ring in hand, and proposed to her in front of the fire. She didn't waste any time asking her to marry her because she thought if Brittany could give up being an elf so they could be together, then she wanted to make it forever. She wasn't sure how she could ever thank her for what she did for them, but she was going to spend the rest of her life trying.

They had been engaged for twenty-four hours and as excited as they were to share the news, they had not told a soul yet. They decided to wait because they wanted some time to themselves to celebrate privately before they told anyone else, because they knew as soon as they did, there would be a huge fuss about it, especially from Maribel.

"My mom is going to lose it once she finds out." Santana said.

Maribel and Brittany had a great relationship. She was the first girl that Santana introduced to her parents that Maribel truly thought was a perfect match for her daughter, and as such, she made it a point to spend time with Brittany and invite her to every family event.

Brittany chuckled. "Yeah. She's going to want to start planning the wedding tonight."

Santana playfully rolled her eyes. "There's going to be no stopping her. She'll have the whole thing planned for us by New Year's. We may not even get to plan it ourselves."

Brittany giggled again; setting down her finished marshmallow rope, and took Santana's hand into her own. She loved that Santana pretended to be annoyed with her mother, but actually liked the fact that she was involved in her life. She knew it was important for Santana for her mother to be part of the planning. "Honey, I think that's a little exaggerated. Of course she's going to let us plan our own wedding, but she's going to be excited and want to give us ideas and help us plan. She's probably been waiting for this since you were a little girl."

"Yeah." Santana said with a nod. "She used to get such a kick out of it when I would have play weddings at my abuela's as a kid." She said and then paused for a few moments. "I wish my abuela could come to our wedding." She said with a flat smile. "I think she would have loved you."

Brittany lightly squeezed Santana's hand and rubbed the top of her hand with her thumb. She had heard the story of how Santana and her abuela had a falling out after she came out as a lesbian in high school. It had been one of the worst moments in Santana's life. Thankfully, they made up a few years ago during Santana college graduation, but unfortunately that was short lived. About a year and a half after their reunion, Alma sadly passed from complications from pneumonia.

"I wish she could be there as well." Brittany said. "I think I would have loved her too."

Santana nodded and took a deep breath to push away her sad thoughts. She didn't want to be sad. She was engaged to Brittany, and it was a happy day, so she changed the subject away from her abuela.

"You're parents are going to be excited when we tell them too. Although I think we may have to come up with a better plan to keep them contained and incognito."

Brittany's parents were still alive and well in the North Pole. They had visited once for a few days, and it had been a success and a total disaster at the same time. They loved Santana, and Santana in turned loved them, even with their idiosyncrasies and unusual quirks, but unfortunately, hiding the fact that they were elves was not their strong suit. They had never left the North Pole before, as they were not scout elves like Brittany, so every time they left the privacy of Santana and Brittany's house, they nearly revealed themselves in one way or another. Mostly it was because they were set in their ways and they would forget not to use their magic in public, or Pierce would get annoyed with wearing a hat and he would keep taking it off, showing his ears. By the time that they left to go home, Brittany and Santana were so stressed and exhausted over having to watch them every second that they decided the next time Brittany's parents came for a visit, they would have to limit the amount of outside activities they planned. It was just too risky to take them out until they learned to be discrete.

"I don't know what we're going to do with my parents." Brittany sighed; she was really concerned about them. "We can't not invite them; they're my parents and I want them at my wedding, but they're going to be found out the second we leave them alone and I don't want to spend our entire wedding worried about them doing something. I want to enjoy it."

"Me too. I'm sure that they'll try, but just in case, I'm guessing you're going to want to invite Santa, so maybe he can keep an eye on them for us. We can tell people that he's your uncle so it wouldn't be weird that he's around your parents all the time. If anyone can keep them in check, it's him. I'm sure he can even find a way to disguise your dad's ears without a hat."

Brittany nodded. "Yeah, that's a great idea. That could work!"

"I'm sure we're going to have the best wedding ever, so let's not worry about any of that until it gets closer. We have a lot to do before it gets to that point. I know we haven't been engaged that long, and we've been a little distracted since I proposed, but we don't even have a date yet, which I think is kind of one of the most important things in starting the planning process."

Brittany smirked. "That's because you can't declare your everlasting love to me in the sweetest way possible, and then ask me to be your wife and not expect me to take you into our bedroom and make love to you over and over and over again."

Santana felt her cheeks heat up. "True." She said shyly as some of the memories from the past twenty-four hours crossed her mind. She certainly welcomed that kind of distraction with Brittany any time.

"But you're right. We should probably pick a date before we do anything. That's the first thing your mom is going to ask us about tonight."

"Um, are you sure it's okay for us to pick a definite date tonight?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Brittany asked confused.

"I mean, I'd love to start planning the wedding tonight, but I know you want to get a job, so I thought you might want to wait until after you found one, that way you'll know when you can get off for the wedding." Santana said. She wasn't worried about the money, she made more than enough to support both of them, but she was worried about Brittany getting bored. She wanted to her to have her independence as well.

While Brittany was still an elf, she continued to travel to the North Pole to work in the toy shop. Santana had a full time job and Brittany didn't want to sit at home alone while she was at work. She had a wide array of skills that she had acquired over her lifetime, and some of them, especially toy making could be a viable career for her, but since she had no background in the human world, she couldn't just get a job because it would seem as if she had appeared out of nowhere. So she kept her job in the North Pole, until she became human and Santa gave her a new identity complete with every piece of official documentation that she would need to fit in seamlessly without causing any suspicion.

"I want to start planning the wedding tonight with your mom and any job that is offered to me, I will make sure that they're going to give me the time off before I take it." Brittany said and took Santana's other hand into her own. "I love you _so_ much. I waited over ninety years to find my soulmate, and I've finally found you. I don't want to wait anymore. I can't wait to marry you. I want to be your wife and I want to have babies with you. I want it so bad that I can't stand the idea of having a long engagement."

"I want all of that too." Santana said with a soft smile. She didn't want a long engagement either. She wanted to marry Brittany as soon as she could and start a family together a few months to a year after the wedding.

Brittany smiled and leaned in, kissing Santana softly and deepening it after a few moments. Santana eagerly returned the kiss, not caring about ruining their makeup anymore; she just needed to be close to her future wife.

When they parted, Brittany rested their foreheads together and tightened her hold on Santana's hands. She was so happy. She had no regrets about becoming human. "I love you, San. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Britt." Santana whispered. She leaned in, intending to kiss Brittany again, but before their lips touched, they heard a car pull into the driveway and they knew Santana's family had arrived.

"They're early." Santana said pulling back from Brittany and then she rubbed her lips together. "How's my make up?"

Brittany rubbed her thumb just above her top lip to wipe off the smudged lip gloss. "It's perfect. How's mine?"

"Great." Santana said not finding a single smudge, but then she remembered about the marshmallows. "Oh crap, we have to get the elf in the tree before the kids come in."

"I got it." Brittany said grabbing her handmade rope and toy elf and quickly set them up in the tree while Santana hid the bag of marshmallows.

"It looks amazing!" Santana chirped with a smile as she looked at the fun scene that Brittany had set up for her niece and nephew. Her heart swelled at the idea that in the near future they were going to have kids of their own to do that for. She was sure their kids would love Christmas, because how could they not; one of their mothers used to be a Christmas elf. She laced her fingers with Brittany's as they walked to the front door to meet her family. "Are you ready for this? You know everyone is going to go crazy in about two seconds."

Brittany giggled and nodded. "I'm ready. I've been ready for this for a long time."

-()-()-()-()-

 **A/N** : Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you all liked the epilogue to this cute little fic. Pretty please send me your thoughts if you have a chance.

Thank you to my beta **naynay1963** for beta-ing!

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own 'Glee' or any copyrighted material or products that are mentioned in this story.


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